Sleeping Light in Stansbury
by SamCyberCat
Summary: Until he knows that all is well in the Ascot house, Henry rarely manages to get a good night's sleep. Randall/Henry.


**Notes:** Since it's Henry Week, I decided to seek out kinkmeme prompts related to Henry. One that caught my fancy asked for a fluffy fic about Henry going to take a nap and Randall joining him. Set sometime while they were teenagers, with mild spoilers for Miracle Mask.

* * *

The chores that fell upon a servant of the Ascot family were varied and many, and they would also often take a long time to complete. So while Henry never knew what time he'd be finished working, he always knew that it would be long into the night before he was.

Winter was setting in and with it came the shorter days, meaning that by the time Henry was finally getting ready for bed it was already pitch black outside. He settled under his covers, trying to distract his mind from idle thoughts long enough that he could go to sleep. Which was never an easy task, seeing as his mind was constantly thinking about what jobs would need to be doing the next day and how best to go about handling them. Caring for the Ascots was something that he didn't just take seriously, it was something that consumed his entire life. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

Perhaps what was also keeping him awake, more so than thoughts of chores, was that he knew he wasn't the last person in the house to retire that evening. This was also nothing unusual as-

_-Crack!_

A twig snapped outside, followed by a sharp breath being drawn, as someone made to be silent.

...Yes, that would be Master Randall returning home.

He would often sneak out to meet up with his new friend Hershel, go on dates with the lovely Miss Angela, or else have various little archaeological adventures, either with his friends or on his own. Mostly just for the thrill of sneaking away outside the notice of his father, who didn't approve of him being out this late.

Regardless of where he'd been on this occasion, what was important to Henry was that he'd now safely got back. Rolling onto his side, Henry listened for the tell-tale creaks in the floorboards that would inform him that Master Randall had returned to his room. He could hear them well enough to get a picture in his mind of his friend making towards his own room, then hesitating for a moment and changing direction. Instead, he was coming towards the room that Henry stayed in.

Peeking his head inside the door, Randall hissed, "Henry, are you awake?"

"Yes, Master Randall," yawned Henry, sitting up to look at him.

"Good, I have something to tell you," Randall replied, walking in and quietly closing the door behind him. The threat of his father finding him wandering around late into the night was still present, after all. He crept over and sat on the edge of the bed, grinning proudly; "I went out to look at the ruins again and came across a great gift for Angie."

Reaching into his bag, Randall pulled out three pale blue flowers, that seemed to glow faintly in the moonlight.

"They look lovely, Master Randall," Henry assured him, "But you'll need to put them in water if you want them to last until tomorrow."

"Ah, you're right," chuckled Randall. He looked around, spotted the jug of water Henry kept on his bedside table and promptly placed the flowers within it. Henry didn't mind – Master Randall's eagerness to impress his partner always made him smile. It would have been a shame for such a lovely gift to get ruined. After admiring the flowers for a moment, Randall went on; "I can't wait to see her tomorrow, she's going to love them."

He then stretched and lay down on the bed next to Henry.

Looking down, Henry commented, "Aren't you worried about your father catching you? He probably won't be happy to find you still up and fully dressed at this time."

"Nah, I don't think he'll mind, as long as I'm still in the house," answered Randall, "Besides, I don't feel like going to my own room right now. I want to spend some time with you. And since you're always so busy all day, this is the only chance I'll get."

"I suppose you're right there," Henry admitted.

"Weren't you trying to get some sleep?" asked Randall, looking up at him.

"In all honesty, I wasn't really very tired. If you want to talk for a while I'd be glad to," replied Henry.

"Don't be silly, after working all day you must be shattered," scolded Randall, reaching up to grab Henry's arm and pulling him down with him, "Get some rest."

"But what about spending time together?" Henry enquired.

"Isn't that what we're doing now? It doesn't matter if we're awake or not, as long as we're here, we're spending time together," Randall told him, before failing to hide a yawn that gave away the fact that he was probably more ready for bed than he was letting on. Regardless, Randall put his arms around Henry and snuggled up to him. Something that may have looked odd to the casual observer, but to the two of them was just normal by this point.

"All right then, I hope you sleep well, Master Randall," whispered Henry, watching as the other's eyes heavily sagged to a close.

"Uh-huh, you too, Henry..." mumbled Randall, already well on his way to sleep.

After watching him for a moment, Henry retrieved the glasses that lay askew on Randall's face and leaned over to place them on the bedside table, next to the jug of flowers. He smiled, wishing that he found falling asleep half as easy to manage as Randall did.

But the again, if he did, he wouldn't have had these private little moments to enjoy.

Settling back down, Henry reached forward to give Randall a bold kiss on the forehead, knowing that he would not be caught. Randall's forehead was comfortingly warm, despite the frosty chill of the weather outside. Curling back into the embrace, Henry finally felt at ease enough to drift off into a slumber.

As his breathing settled to the pace of light sleep, Randall opened his eyes a little, smiled and then never mentioned it again.


End file.
